Mahzarnama (The Memorandum) — Page 118
118 Mahzarnama Various excerpts from the perceptive writings of the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, on the subject of the Islamic concept of Jehad, are presented as under: "Why did Islam have to resort to fighting and what is the purpose of Jehad? With the very birth of Islam it was confronted with great difficulties and all peoples conceived enmity against it. It has always been the case that on the advent of a Prophet or a Messenger his opponents, perceiving that his followers are a company of earnest, righteous and courageous people who are likely to march forward quickly, begin to entertain rancour and jealousy against them; more particularly is the case with the divines and leaders of other religions. . . . They begin to devise projects to harm the new faith. Very often they feel in their hearts that by persecuting a righteous one of God they have become subject to God's wrath and their wrongful conduct also betrays that their hearts feel guilty, yet the fierce fire of jealousy drives them into the pits of enmity. These were the causes which not only prevented the leaders of the polytheists and the Jews and the Christians from accepting the truth, but incited them to bitter enmity and they began to consider means of wiping out Islam from the face of the earth. As in the beginning the number of Muslims was small, their opponents, out of the natural arrogance which inspires the minds of people who consider themselves superior to the followers of the new faith in respect of wealth, numbers, esteem and rank, treated the Muslims with bitter hostility as they did not desire that Islam, the heavenly plant, should take root upon the earth. They put forth their utmost effort to destroy the righteous and left out no means of causing them to be hurt. They were afraid lest the new religion should become established and its progress might ruin their own religion and culture. Out of this fear, which terrified their hearts, they had to recourse to every type of coercion and cruelty in order to destroy Islam. They killed Muslims savagely and during a long period which extended over thirteen years, they persisted with this persecution. The swords of these wild beasts cut to pieces most